Jesus answered… “For this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. – John 18:37-38
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty…And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:16, 19-21
We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty…And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. – 2 Peter 1:16, 19-21
Charles Hodge: Basic Facts
- Charles Hodge (1797-1878) was a pastor and theologian in the Presbyterian church, one of the famous line of “Princeton theologians” who defended orthodox Protestant teaching at Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1800s. He wrote a widely-used text on systematic theology and several commentaries on the Bible which are still in use today.
- Hodge, along with his predecessor at Princeton, Archibald Alexander, and also with his son, A. A. Hodge, formulated a response to the growing threats of liberal theology, “higher criticism,” and the many heterodox Christian movements that were developing throughout the 19th century. The work of these theologians helped to establish the way that evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the 20th century would understand their faith, and forged a core conception of the essentials of the faith that allowed unity to exist even among diverse denominations.
- Hodge, along with his predecessor at Princeton, Archibald Alexander, and also with his son, A. A. Hodge, formulated a response to the growing threats of liberal theology, “higher criticism,” and the many heterodox Christian movements that were developing throughout the 19th century. The work of these theologians helped to establish the way that evangelical and fundamentalist Christians in the 20th century would understand their faith, and forged a core conception of the essentials of the faith that allowed unity to exist even among diverse denominations.
The 1800s - A Series of Challenges to Protestant Belief
1.) Beginning in Europe, there was a deep disaffection for traditional faith. Skepticism was rife, and, for the first time in Christian society, people publicly began to espouse atheism. It was seen as backward and unenlightened by higher society to believe in such things as miracles.
2.) Scholars in Germany and France began to study and dissect the Bible with the presupposition that it was merely a human document. They wrote long books about how the miracles of the Gospel could be explained as fabrications and misunderstandings. Along the way, though, they produced some notable scholarly advances: arguing persuasively that the first five books of the Bible were not the work of a single author (Moses had traditionally been ascribed this role); and making a strong case that the writers of the Gospels borrowed and adapted material from one another. These theories have good evidence behind them, but at the time, they were perceived as an assault on the doctrine of Scripture itself, which meant that even more people began to consider leaving the faith. At exactly the same time, Darwin’s theory of evolution began to cast public doubt on the historical reliability of the Bible.
3.) In response to these intellectual challenges, some Christians, like Friedrich Schleiermacher in Germany, sought to make the Christian faith more accessible to that skeptical age. These new “liberal theologians” focused on the experiential dynamic of faith rather than on doctrine, and they emphasized the attributes of love and compassion as their foundational principles. As such, liberal Protestant churches became places of tremendous social charity, but of little attention to the biblical messages of sin, judgment, and the need for repentance.
4.) In the aftermath of the Second Great Awakening and its incessant revivalist method, American Christianity started producing hundreds of small splinter groups and sects, all with different theological emphases. Some of these were quite novel or were in contradiction to traditional Christianity. Among the Christian movements that evolved during this time period were the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Advent Christians, the Restorationist churches, the Plymouth Brethren, the dispensationalist movement, and the Holiness/Keswick movement; among the pseudo-Christian groups to develop were the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christian Science.
2.) Scholars in Germany and France began to study and dissect the Bible with the presupposition that it was merely a human document. They wrote long books about how the miracles of the Gospel could be explained as fabrications and misunderstandings. Along the way, though, they produced some notable scholarly advances: arguing persuasively that the first five books of the Bible were not the work of a single author (Moses had traditionally been ascribed this role); and making a strong case that the writers of the Gospels borrowed and adapted material from one another. These theories have good evidence behind them, but at the time, they were perceived as an assault on the doctrine of Scripture itself, which meant that even more people began to consider leaving the faith. At exactly the same time, Darwin’s theory of evolution began to cast public doubt on the historical reliability of the Bible.
3.) In response to these intellectual challenges, some Christians, like Friedrich Schleiermacher in Germany, sought to make the Christian faith more accessible to that skeptical age. These new “liberal theologians” focused on the experiential dynamic of faith rather than on doctrine, and they emphasized the attributes of love and compassion as their foundational principles. As such, liberal Protestant churches became places of tremendous social charity, but of little attention to the biblical messages of sin, judgment, and the need for repentance.
4.) In the aftermath of the Second Great Awakening and its incessant revivalist method, American Christianity started producing hundreds of small splinter groups and sects, all with different theological emphases. Some of these were quite novel or were in contradiction to traditional Christianity. Among the Christian movements that evolved during this time period were the Seventh-Day Adventists, the Advent Christians, the Restorationist churches, the Plymouth Brethren, the dispensationalist movement, and the Holiness/Keswick movement; among the pseudo-Christian groups to develop were the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christian Science.
B.B. Warfield: Basic Facts
- Warfield helped to formulate the classical doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture in a way that made it clear that Christians have never believed that God dictated it word-by-word; rather, He participated with human authors in their historical circumstances, guiding their thoughts but not overriding their own personalities in the process of writing. As such, it is no surprise that the books of the Bible show evidence of being compiled by multiple authors and redactors, each with their own viewpoints. In short, Warfield set the tone for evangelicalism’s belief in the Bible as an inerrant symbol of God’s relationship with us.
- From 1910 to 1915, a group of most accomplished Christian scholars (including Warfield) who represented the traditional doctrines produced a series of booklets called “The Fundamentals.” In this series, major topics of debated doctrine were addressed, along with the questions of Christianity’s relationship with science, scholarly research, and the many new pseudo-Christian sects. It is from the title of this series that the term “Fundamentalist” entered our lingo; but the original writers of the series were generally more open to scholarly debate and to a broad range of options on such things as evolution and the end times than today’s modern fundamentalists are.
“The Bible is authoritative, for it is the Word of God; it is intelligible, for it is the word of man. Because it is the word of man in every part and element, it comes home to our hearts. Because it is the word of God in every part and element, it is our constant law and guide.” - Warfield
“Let us, then, cultivate an attitude of courage as over against the investigations of the day. None should be more zealous in them then we. None should be more quick to discern truth in every field, more hospitable to receive it, more loyal to follow it wherever it leads.” - Warfield
“The Bible is authoritative, for it is the Word of God; it is intelligible, for it is the word of man. Because it is the word of man in every part and element, it comes home to our hearts. Because it is the word of God in every part and element, it is our constant law and guide.” - Warfield
“Let us, then, cultivate an attitude of courage as over against the investigations of the day. None should be more zealous in them then we. None should be more quick to discern truth in every field, more hospitable to receive it, more loyal to follow it wherever it leads.” - Warfield